Evidences of Equality in Islamic History - Eleventh Evidence

One of the unique incidents relating to sympathy and equality in the history of mankind is that 'Umar came by one night. It was usual with him to go out during the nights to see with his own eyes the conditions under which people were living. One night he found himself in one of the many valleys of Madinah. All of a sudden he heard somebody crying in a nearby tent, at whose door was standing a man. 'Umar greeted him in the proper manner and asked him who he was. He said in reply that he was a beduin who had come to Madinah to ask the Amir of the believers for help. Then 'Umar asked him about the crying and wailing inside the tent, which question the beduin tried to evade, saying that since it did not concern him, he should not interest himself in it and go his way. Little he knew that he was talking to the Amir of the believers. However, on the insistence of 'Umar he told him that his wife was in labour pain and has no one to help her with the delivery. 'Umar came back home and asked his wife, Umme-Kulsum bint-e-Ali, whether she was interested in the reward from God which He might have brought her way. And on her asking what was that, he told her in some detail, and asked her to take with her the requisites of a new born and the delivered mother and also some provisions for food. He took all those things from her and started, Umme-Kulsum following him. Soon they came to the Bedouin's tent and 'Umar sending his wife inside, himself sat with the husband, and lighting a fire started cooking food with the provisions he had brought with him. The Bedouin was even now unaware that he was sitting beside a great man of the world. Meanwhile the woman in the tent was delivered of a babe and Umme-Kulsum called him from inside the tent, addressing him as Amir-al Muminin, and asked him to congratulate his friend on the birth of his child. The Bedouin on hearing her words became conscious of the fact that he had been with the head of the Islamic state all this time and had been rude to him, and was awe-struck and began receding from 'Umar. But 'Umar reassured him and asked him to keep sitting where he was, unceremoniously. And when he asked Umme-Kulsum to offer the mother the food that he had cooked. And when she had eaten, he offered food to her husband, saying "Partake of it, you have kept up the whole night and have been inconvenienced. Come to me tomorrow and I shall see to it that your needs are pro-vided." When he came to him ('Umar) the next morning he granted an allowance for his new born babe and he too was liberally helped.